Grown, a highly celebrated USDA Organic Certified fast food restaurant based in Miami, Florida, is excited to announce its expansion to Central Florida with the debut of a stand alone location inside of the new Walmart Supercenter located in the vibrant community of Lake Nona.

The innovative farm-to-fork concept is owned and operated by husband and wife team Shannon and Ray Allen.

Shannon (The PreGame Meal) created the concept in frustration after searching unsuccessfully for an organic nutrient dense meal on-the-go for their five children and especially their son Walker who lives with Type 1 Diabetes.

She and husband Ray (retired two-time NBA Champion, 10-time NBA All-Star and Olympic Gold Medalist), are committed to promoting a healthy diet and lifestyle by providing freshly prepared meals inclusive of guests with dietary needs such as gluten sensitivities, food allergies, vegans, vegetarians, pescetarians, and those on the Autoimmune Protocol or paleo diets.

Grown is proud to be the first USDA Certified Organic fast food restaurant with a drive-thru on the East Coast, and is widely recognized as a market disrupter for providing convenience without compromise.

“At grown, we’re passionate about changing the world one organic fast food meal at a time by providing busy families with convenient, delicious, freshly prepared meals using the best USDA Organic Certified ingredients the market has to offer. Our biggest challenge to date is that organic certified products are cost prohibitive for a lot of families.

You may not know this, but Walmart is the second largest seller of organic groceries in the US. Due to their immense customer base and buying power, they can not only support local farmers as they make the switch from conventional to organically grown farms, but, also help drive down the cost of organic for consumers everywhere. Operating grown inside of Walmart makes us accessible to every family, regardless of their mean income; this is a game changer,” states Shannon.

Grown, named one of the best new restaurants in Florida by Florida Trend Magazine, marries the quality of farm-to-fork cuisine with the convenience of fast food dining and makes it possible for busy people to access high-quality foods at affordable prices. Guests can enjoy breakfast, lunch and dinner items as well as fresh pressed juices, smoothies, family style meals to-go, organic beer and wine, and more.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again...Some of the best dining in Central Florida can be found inside some of the great hotels and resorts scattered throughout our community. Sure, Orlando is experiencing a restaurant renaissance of sorts, but that also includes many great hotels.

I was recently invited to a “Lamb Everything” dinner at Crimson Tavern inside the Orlando Airport Marriott Lakeside and I was thoroughly impressed with the restaurant, and the hotel itself. I don’t live too far away from Crimson Tavern, but like many of us, It’s never on my list of restaurants to visit, mainly because I think of the hotel only. I can assure you though, Crimson Tavern is a place you need to visit soon, and here’s why...

It isn’t too often that many of the items which appear on a diner’s plate come from just a few hundred feet away, and in the restaurant’s own Chef’s Garden. At Crimson Tavern, diners are invited to take a stroll through the nearby 2,500 square foot Chef’s Garden and see what is ready to be harvested and will soon end up on the menu or quite possibly, on their plate that very evening.

For Executive Chef Anthony Hull, Crimson Tavern truly defines the “farm to table” culinary movement. The restaurant actually came about because there was an open dining space at the Orlando Airport Marriott and since much of the hotel’s senior management were all serious foodies, including General Manager Chris Donohue, the logical step was to create a restaurant that represented what most chefs believe is an iconic way to eat : Farm to Table.

Since every dish is the sum of its components, the farm to table philosophy means a strong connection to the surrounding farms and artisans. The culinary team works very diligently to develop partnerships with many of Orlando's best purveyors to source the finest ingredients available. They also invite the local farm community to grow for them, which helps these farms to sustain a way of life. Additionally, as the Chef’s Garden grows and evolves (it currently produces approximately 20,000 pounds of food per year), more of the fruit trees will start to produce and evolve the experience even further as they will supply many of the ingredients, which the team can use for jamming and pickling.

In fact, the culinary team is exploring the branding and retail sale of their homemade condiments and jams. They will continue to make hot sauce, pickles, jams, and chutneys from their garden and seasonal offerings. As the BBQ program grows (the restaurant offers seasonal Friday Night Barbecues) a line of rubs and sauces will also become available. According to Chef Hull, “The main reason we are producing these products is to control what goes into them, not just from a flavor standpoint, but also a wellness aspect by eliminating additives and unnatural ingredients, and if we have a really good harvest, it is also a way to preserve the extra product”.

Chef Anthony Hull of Crimson Tavern, spent much of his youth in England cooking with his grandmothers. While he enjoyed the opportunity to practice his latest jokes on them, they in turn, would tell him the jokes they had also heard. “To this day, I have vivid memories of my grandmother trying to tell me a joke and laughing so hard she could not get to the punch line.” During this time, his grandmothers love of baking, making jams from fruits harvested from the family garden, and pickling onions and beets and storing them under the stairs for the holidays became entrenched in his DNA. When his paternal grandmother had the faith to let him cook the Christmas turkey from start to finish, it was probably the single defining food event that made him decide to become a chef.

Here are some of the highlights of Chef Hull's "Lamb Everything Dinner".....

The restaurant can fit 80 people, the private dining room can seat up to 16, and semi-private dining on the upper deck is up to 30 guests.

Price range: Appetizers: $7 - $18

Salads and Sandwiches: $7 to $16

Entrees: $20 - $26

Desserts: $9

Beverage menu features 21 domestic, imported, and artisanal beers, 30 wines by the glass or bottle including two sustainable wines, and 7 signature cocktails. The wine list focuses on domestic wines from California and the East Coast as well as a number of international wines from Argentina and Australia.

One of the many great things aboutVisit Orlando's Magical Dining Month,is that it also includes a great deal called Magical Nights at some of the finest resorts and hotels in Orlando. There are over seventy restaurants participating this year and over twenty hotels are participating in the Magical Nights program.

Magical Dining Month is the month long program from the folks at Visit Orlando where participating restaurants feature three-course, prix fixe dinners at the exceptional value of $33 per person. Magical Nights offers guests the opportunity to make the magical dining experience a truly memorable occasion by turning it into an overnight stay.

Many of the Magical Dining restaurants are located in area hotels and resorts, and are offering a special stay and dine package that includes hotel accommodations and a Magical Dining dinner for two. This year Reunion Resort and their beautiful indoor / outdoor restaurant that goes by the name of Eleven is participating in the program.

Eleven, as you may have guessed is on the eleventh floor of the Reunion Grande, the resorts most luxurious one and two bedroom villas. The restaurant is very chic and upscale and features an outdoor roof top lounge that offers stunning views of the skyline and the nightly fireworks display from Disney's Magic Kingdom. The menu at Eleven is full of handcrafted cocktails and steakhouse favorites that showcases prime cuts of beef with rubs, sauces, and other enhancements available to add to your selection.

The Magical Dining Menu goes as follows:The first of two appetizer choices is a very refreshing Strawberry & Mandarin Orange Saladmade with mixed greens, caramelized pecans, sun-dried tomato, goat cheese, and raspberry dressing.

If you are not in the mood for a salad, the Fried Calamari with

Sun-Dried Tomato and Tarragon Aioli, is your second choice for an appetizer. The calamari was breaded very delicately and was quite delicious.

One of my favorites was the Bourbon Glazed Salmon with a sweet corn and bacon sauté. The glaze was not overly sweet, and went really well with the Norwegian salmon.

For you steak lovers, the Grilled Hanger Steak with whipped potatoes, haricot verts, and chimichurri will not disappoint. Very tender slices of steak packed with flavor in every bite.

If you want to end your meal on a lighter note, I would suggest choosing one of the Vanilla, Chocolate, Mango, or Blackberry Gelato selections for desert. All flavors were fresh and delicious.

If you want a traditional desert, go with the Crème Brulee. Simple, yet elegant and creamy.

The Reunion resort is a spectacular place to visit, even if its just for dinner. As mentioned earlier, at around 9:00 pm or so, if you are at Eleven restaurant, you do not want to miss the wonderful fireworks display from the neighboring Magic Kingdom.

Magical dining, magical food and magical fireworks are sure to impress just about anyone, but for a real special treat, book the Magical Night package. For just $225.00 per night you and a guest will enjoy one night in a 1 bedroom deluxe suite and dinner for two at Eleven Restaurant, and that will be a night not soon forgotten.

Reunion Resort features three signature golf courses designed by golf’s greatest legends: Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson and Arnold Palmer and they are the only resort in America with an ANNIKA Academy facility on site. The resort also boasts 10 swimming pools and a water park as well, so you can spend the day splashing around the water park, or play tennis on one of the six lighted tennis courts.

After spending time at the Bohemian Hotel Savannah as the executive chef at the hotels Rocks on the River restaurant, Chef Zachary Martin has returned to the Bohemian Hotel Celebration.To kickoff his return and to spread the word about the refreshed menu, Tastes Of Orlando was invited to a very special Flavors of Florida bloggers dinner.Chef Martin was at the property from 2008 through 2012, and with his return, the Bohemian Hotel Celebration has introduced a refreshed menu to its Lakeside Bar & Grill. The new menu features fresh Florida ingredients that focus on classic American foods with a southern contemporary twist. Born and raised in New Orleans, Chef Martin’s hometown roots have influenced his innovative culinary creations and his modern approach to classic cuisine. Chef Martin’s techniques and talents have been fine-tuned through mentoring by the likes of Emeril Lagasse and Bernard Carmouche. The refreshed menu is focused on locally sourced and sustainable ingredients from some of Florida's best all natural farms like Waterkist Farms and Cahaba farms who grow most of their produce hydroponically. Other farms the hotel uses for ingredients like Pero Family Farms and Arc Farms, have a big focus on being environmentally friendly and being 100% sustainable farmers.We started our evening off with a Summer Corn Bisque with citrus yogurt.The bisque was made with organic corn from Alderman farms, and was full of flavor in every bite.

For the greens portion of our meal we had the Beets and Bleu.

This salad is made with organic mixed greens, roasted beets, pickled red onions, bacon, and bleu cheese with an aged balsamic vinaigrette.I really enjoyed the salad and all of the unique flavors and textures. It was quite tasty, and was paired very nicely with the Kessler Chardonnay 2011.

Our next dish was the Crab Cake.

The cake was served with shaved fennel, tomatoes, red onion salad, and a delicious champagne yogurt sauce. To continue on in our seafood selection we were treated to Chilean Sea Bass.The fish was topped with prawn butter and sat atop a bed of soba noodles, pea tendrils and shiitake mushrooms in a coconut curry sauce.The fish was nice and flaky and I thought the addition of a coconut curry sauce was a nice flavor enhancer. Both the crab cake and the sea bass were paired with a wonderfuly crisp Robert Mondavi Fume Blanc 2010.Our final entree of the evening was a Filet Mignon with summer roasted vegetables and roasted fingerling potatoes. The steak was topped with a fresh herb butter that helped it to literally melt in your mouth.Of course steaks go good with red wines, so it was paired with a Simi Cabernet Sauvignon 2011.

We ended the evening with a decadent Key Lime Pie with sugared lime slices and dried raspberry.The pie was very light and had just the right amount of sweetness and bitterness.

One of the many highlights about Kessler Collection hotels is their passion not just for food and fine lodging, but for the arts. As with other Kessler properties, The Bohemian Hotel in Celebration has a passion for the arts at its foundation. The hotel’s Grand Bohemian Gallery showcases more than 75 works of art by local, regional and internationally recognized artists.

During our dinner we were treated to a meet and greet with Tom Sadler, and got to watch him paint one of his beautiful oil paintings.Tom Sadler has dedicated his efforts towards capturing the light, color, and mood of the Central Florida landscape. The intense light, combined with the natural beauty of the many lakes, rivers, and parks of the area provide a never-ending source of inspiration. His paintings come to life as a celebration of this beauty found in nature.
Just like Tom Sadler's art work, The Bohemian Hotel in Celebration is full of natural beauty, Floridian charm and inspiration. The hotel has all of the modern amenities you expect in an upscale hotel, but is set in an intimate boutique setting that is reminiscent of the grand lakeside and seaside inns of the early 1900's.The Bohemian Hotel Celebration is a great place for romance during a starlit cocktail hour as well as a great place for business meetings, with over 5,000 square feet of indoor meeting space. The hotel boasts two lakeside terraces for outdoor events, exquisite cuisine and a convenient business center. From artistically designed buffets and décor to creative dishes and live music, events can be arranged surrounding a particular theme. Along with multiple

function spaces, the property offers a lakefront meeting room where attendants can enjoy the beautiful view outside.The Bohemian Hotel Celebration is a great place to enjoy the perfect balance of old-world charm combined with contemporary elegance in the warm and welcoming town of Celebration.